Gang member found guilty in crack case

Nov. 25, 2013

Written by

Quint Qualls

The Tennessean

A Nashville gang member was found guilty on all charges in U.S. District Court in Nashville on Monday — including the manufacture and distribution of crack within 1,000 feet of an elementary school.

The conviction of 98 Mafia Crips gang member Christopher Moody, 29, stems from an investigation into recorded jail phone calls.

In the 2009 recordings, Moody is heard talking about drugs, ammunition and guns. Officers later seized a video camera from the 1307 12th Ave. S. home of Toneisha Clemmons, where officers learned Moody’s drugs were being held.

Prosecutors played for the jury the homemade video in which Moody is seen turning powder cocaine into crack rocks in a beaker over a stove. The video shows Moody displaying his stash of crack, brandishing a revolver and making death threats.

Not long after Moody’s release from the Davidson County Correctional Center, he was arrested at his apartment in 2011, where officers found crack cookware, shotgun shells and about $30,000 hidden in the walls, in drawers and in a pair of boots.

“We’re grateful for the jury’s service,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunny Koshy. “The verdict was in line with the evidence, and today they helped take a dangerous criminal off of the streets.”

Moody faces life in prison because of the nature of the convictions — which also include weapons charges possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime and felony possession of a firearm and ammunition — and his vivid criminal history, Koshy said. Moody is expected to be sentenced early next year.